Drone technology offers a relatively new, yet powerful capability to help overcome the challenge of balancing observation and secrecy.

Echo 7 Foxtrot Private Investigations and Secrets True Crime visited the location where Hayden Mayberry’s body was discovered 10 weeks after he went missing. We’ve released video footage from that trip to give listeners more perspective and information about the location where Hayden was found. The sheriff’s office has ruled Hayden’s death a suicide by hanging and he apparently used a woman’s belt and a small tree to do this. Many suspicious things about Hayden going missing and then being found in this small wooded area have come up and are covered in recent episodes of Secrets True Crime Podcast. https://youtu.be/KJcJvR-Mp1Y

From Secrets True Crime Podcast and Echo 7 Foxtrot Investigations: an overview of many of the missing and murdered of northwest Alabama’s Warrior River Basin that have been reported to us over the last year. The list includes victims from 1948 to 2020, and gives perspective of the vast number of unsolved cases in the region. https://youtu.be/7DZmTX_DBls The following cases are covered, along with the date the victim died or went missing: Willadean Sixteen Picket, missing presumed dead. 11/1948 Paula Conner, murdered. 1/18/1980 David Martin & John McHan (some sources spell it McGhan), missing presumed dead. 8/29/1983Rebecca Ferguson, missing presumed dead. 9/16/1988Carrie Lawson, missing presumed dead. 9/11/1991Larry Blevins, missing presumed dead. 12/8/1994James McAnnally, murdered. 7/26/1999Bridgette Bonham, deceased. 12/2004Destiny Aldridge, murdered. 10/28/2008Corey Smith, missing. 6/18/2009Tabitha Franklin, missing presumed dead. 8/14/2009Erik Ruiz, missing. 1/13/2011James Lowe, missing. 8/5/2011Adam Myers, murdered. 9/1/2013James Wall, missing. 2/25/2015Eric Cates & Gypsy, murdered. 3/21/2015Andrew Setliff, missing. 8/7/2015Nicholas Hawkins, murdered. 2/16/2016Terry Roberts, murdered. 5/26/2016Randy Hicks, deceased. 7/4/2016Janell Massey, missing. 9/2/2016Dustin Turner & Jennifer Phillips, murdered. 10/1/2016Justin Denny, deceased. 11/5/2016Mickey Kilgore, murdered. 11/20/2017Dustin Alexander, murdered. 6/20/2017Jessica Hamby, missing. 1/2/2018Amy Hunter, murdered. 2/2/2018Denton Hill, missing presumed dead. 2/23/2018Maxine Bieberbach, missing. 3/6/2018Terrell Sanford, deceased. 5/15/2018Jonathan Andrews, deceased. 1/19/2019Jeremy Thompson, missing presumed dead. 6/7/2019Lonnie Taylor, missing. 10/26/2019Matthew Quinn, murdered. 10/31/2019Drake Stephens, murdered. 11/2019Hayden Mayberry, deceased. 2/3/2020Nolan Watson, missing. 3/8/2020Robert Leith, deceased. 7/17/2020CJ Wilkinson, missing. 7/29/2020

Lonnie Taylor was reported missing by his family on OCTOBER 26, 2019. Lonnie lived at Elderly Village in Jasper, AL off Old Birmingham Hwy. He was last seen there on October 22 at 8 pm. There is currently a $1000 reward being offered by The Jasper Housing Authority for any information that leads to Lonnie being found. He is a white male, approximately 6 ft tall and 180 pounds. He has gray hair and a lazy left eye. If you have ANY information about Lonnie, please contact the Jasper Police Department at (205) 221-2121 or you can call our confidential tip line at (205) 282-0740.

Jeremy Thompson is missing from Walker County, AL since June 7, 2019. Jeremy’s disappearance may have some connections to the Empire area. Foul play is suspected. If you have any information around Jeremy Thompson, please call the Walker County Sheriff’s Office at (205) 522-6112 or you can call our confidential tip line at (205) 282-0740.

28 year old Maxine Chiara Bieberbach, aka Maxine Chiara Chaires, has been missing since about March 6, 2018. The missing persons report was filed May 20, 2018 with the Walker County Sheriff’s office. Maxine has struggled with addiction and had recently lost her daughter to cancer. She is approximately 5’3″, 105 lbs, with brown hair and eyes. She has gauges in her ears and tattoos on both arms (see photo), her wrist, and her ring finger. Maxine has local ties to Jasper, Cordova, and Attalla and has lived in Cape May, NJ, Wichita Falls, TX, and southern CA (Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, San Diego) and may have returned to the TX or the SoCA area. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Maxine is encouraged to contact the Walker County Sheriff’s office at (205) 302-6464, or may call or text our confidential tip line at (205) 282-0740.

Susan Osborne, 43, and her son Evan Eric Chartrand, 15, were last seen in Holtville, Alabama, on May 29, 2017. They have never been heard from again. They lived on Waterview Lane near Highway 111 with her second husband of four years, Air Force veteran Jerry Marshall Osborne. Susan had reportedly never gone more than a couple days without calling or texting. Susan’s family lived in Texas filed a missing person’s report on July 28 – two months after being unable to make contact with the pair. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office at 334-567-5227 or Crimestoppers at 334-251-STOP.

Janell Farley Massey is another Walker County missing person and she too hasn’t received enough attention. She left a rehab center on September 2, 2016. Her daughter told me she was last reported to be seen in October 2016. Sheriff Smith told us that she was last seen in the Sipsey/Empire area.I have been chatting with Janell’s daughter about her mom. She told me her mom was unique and loving and had a crazy personality. She said her mom had no enemies. She was giving and the kind of person that would give you the shirt off her back. She was a good person but she really struggled with addiction. At the time of her disappearance, Janell was eagerly awaiting the birth of her 1st granddaughter who was born shortly after. She now has 3 grandchildren, 2 of which she’s never had the opportunity to meet. Her daughter has a message for the person(s) responsible for her mom’s disappearance. She pleads that they at least anonymously provide the location of her mom’s remains so that she can have a little bit of closure and lay her mom to rest properly. She wants that person(s) to understand that she really needs to know where her missing mama is. Janell Farley Massey is a white female with red hair and hazel eyes. She is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and at the time of her disappearance, she was 40 years old and weighed 115 pounds. If you have any information about the disappearance of Janell, please contact the Jasper Police Department at (205) 221-2121 or you can call our confidential tip line at (205) 282-0740.

Corey Nolan Smith has been missing since 6/18/2009. According to the Charley Project website, he was last reported to be seen by his uncle in Jasper but posts from family in a Facebook group indicate he may have been seen in Empire that day. He lived in Empire in the 100 block off Drummond Switch Cutoff. He told his uncle he was going to collect some money that someone owed him. Foul play is suspected. If you have any information regarding what happened to Corey Smith, please contact the Walker County Sheriff’s Office at (205) 302-6464 or call our confidential tip line at 205-282-0740.  http://charleyproject.org/case/corey-nolan-smith

From The Charley Project Traci Pittman Kegley Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance Missing Since: April 26, 1998 from Elmore County, AlabamaClassification: Endangered MissingDate Of Birth: March 5, 1968Age: 30 years oldHeight and Weight: 5’10, 140 poundsDistinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, green/hazel eyes. Kegley’s hair was frosted at the time of her 1998 disappearance. She has a Caesarean section scar on her abdomen. Kegley’s ears are pierced. Details of Disappearance Kegley was last seen at the BP gasoline station near the intersection of northbound Highway 231 and Redland Road in Elmore County, Alabama during the afternoon hours of April 26, 1998. Her Geo Storm was discovered abandoned along Old Georgia Road, a secluded road in Wetumpka, Alabama, the following morning. Kegley’s two-year-old daughter had been left unattended inside the car. Kegley’s personal belongings, including her purse and identification, were recovered at the scene. She has never been heard from again. Just sixteen days prior to her disappearance, Kegley’s divorce was made final. She had separated from her husband earlier in 1998 and gone to live with her mother. She is a trained phlebotomist and had worked at the Alabama Reference Laboratory in downtown Montgomery, Alabama and Russell Medical Center in Alexander City, Alabama. Kegley had secured a new job at a dental office in Montgomery and was scheduled to start work there the day after she vanished. Kegley’s loved ones believe she met with foul play, as it is uncharacteristic of her behavior to abandon her daughter to leave the child unsupervised. Authorities unsuccessfully dragged one local flooded quarry for her body, but there were two other quarries they were unable to check. Her case remains unsolved. Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:Elmore County Sheriff’s Office334-567-5441 OR334-567-5546 Source Information Alabama Department of Public SafetyThe Decatur DailyThe Montgomery Advertiser Traci Kegley, ~1998Traci Kegley’s 1993 Geo Storm